Pioneering in New Jersey

The New Jersey Supreme Court last week handed down a pioneering decision in the case of Stephen Ward, 20, a college student convicted of possessing $2.50 worth of marijuana in his home. Ward had received a two-to three-year sentence in notoriously archaic Trenton State Prison. Within two weeks, he suffered a mental breakdown and, during the next year, had to be transferred three times to a hospital for the criminally insane.

To prevent such "devastating" experiences in the future, the high court suspended Ward's sentence and recommended an end to jail terms in New Jersey for anyone convicted of using or possessing marijuana for the first time. From now on, said the court, a suspended sentence and probation should suffice. The decision is likely to influence courts in many other states.

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